PC/WI: Both the US Army & USMC have the same force sizes?

WILDGEESE

Gone Fishin'
In the mid '80's taken from Salamanders US ARMY & Elite Forces.

the US Army had 780,000 plus personnel
the USMC had around 189,000 personnel.

What if these forces had the same number of personnel? around 480,000?

Would they're be any increase in capability especially in regards to the USMC?

Would it change US military doctrine in NATO or Asia?

Regards.
 
The USN would have to be massively increased in size to carry the USMC around.

The main change in doctrine would be that the US Military would be shorn of 'heavy' armoured/mobile and airborne divisions in favour of light infantry of the USMC. Not a good move in my opinion.
 
There was some internal debate inside the Marine Corps at the beginning of the AVF about how the Marine Corps should orient itself after Vietnam. There were a couple suggestions bandied about.

1) OTL solution, the Marine Corps would orient itself to fight maneuver warfare against the USSR on the periphery of NATO's flank. At the same time these forces would be able to respond to operational needs in areas of growing concern, ie the Middle East and the Persian Gulf.
2) The Marine Corps would fully mechanized and take on responsibility in Central Europe. This was considered way to close to becoming a "second" land army.
3) Fully embrace the RDF concept. The Army could focus entirely on the mechanized fight in Europe, while the Marine Corps would absorb all the light fighter missions. This included the Army deactivating the 82nd Airborne and 101st Airborne (Air Assault), and handing the missions over to the Marines Corps. Presumably the resources for the 10th Mountain Division would go to the Marines instead in the early 80s.

I think 3 would make for a bigger Corps, and thus a smaller Army. But I don't really see them getting anywhere close to parity.
 
I was on active service when those debates we're under way. In the end the traditional role as a naval arm for Littoral Warfare, #1, was seen as the most practical.
 
There is also the matter of the size of the USMC being set by federal law back in the 1950s. It requires a act or acts of Congress to change significantly the overall configuration/strength of the peace time USMC.
 
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